party help

[Trickstuf]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about re playing SoA and ToB, but I need some help.

Thinking about going the evil route, since I've always played as good in the past.

PC: Fighter (Specialization in bows, wanted to make an archer but rangers can only be good??)

Then:

Korgan
Vicionica
Edwin

Any thoughts?

[fable]

The Valen mod. Valen joins you, and is (at least, initially) a bit overpowered. She also takes an active part in decision-making with your party, so you don't get to stray much from the evil path.

EDIT: Also, Jan. Good thief skills, and a secondary magic user who becomes increasingly important over time. Being neutral, he won't be phased by evil.

[Revan1993]

In ToB I'd also try Sarevok

Damn good fighter, and evil too :mischief:

[Stworca]

Haer'Delis is also a neutral character (like Jan) who wont be bothered with evil party. He's a powerfull melee character (Bard - Blade) but needs a little more attention than a regular warrior.

You might also install [url="http://www.onlinefiction.net/LR/LongerRoad.html"]"Longer road"[/url] for ToB part of the game, it may allow you to force Irenicus into service. He has lots of dialogue with everyone, including most ToB NPCs (talk to them as Irenicus) but beware, Uncle I is strong enough to effordlesly annihilate all the bhaalspawns at once.

There is also [url="http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/ninde"]Ninde[/url], unfortunately this one is far from beign complete. But do install it if you don't want to join Bodhi.

[Trickstuf]

Thanks!

I'll check out both those mods for sure.

Why Jan? He always struck me as sort of useless and I've never really used him on any of my runs through the game.

What are your thoughts on my PC being a fighter/archer? I figure I'll use korgan as the tank, vicionica as secondary tank with healing and whatnot, and obviously edwin as the caster. That leaves my PC as the ranged guy... seemed like good logic to me.

I also definitely considered using Sarevok once I get to him

[Stworca]

Jan has thieving skills, great dialogue (although NOT evil) and is a mage. As long as you can spare some scrolls for him to learn spells, he wont be useless

As for the character of yours, just remember to get quiver / case of plenty ASAP

[Pellinore]

Don't forget Yoshimo. Being evil you don't have to rush off to Spellhold and he can be with you for a fairly long time before... well, you know. :mischief:

[kmonster]

Jan is extremely powerful. During ToB he'll become both a perfect mage (casting level is capped at 20) and thief. He can turn himself invulnerable with spells, set deadly traps and backstab for lots of damage, with both thief and mage HLAs he'll be very scary.
He's not evil however (his dialogue doesn't sound evil either), if you want neutral characters in your party I recommend installing the happy party component from EoU.

There's a mod which allows archer as fighter kit.

Without a thief in the party or this mod I'd consider starting as swashbuckler and dualing to fighter at level 10 (or 11 if you want to set traps). This way you'll get +2 to hit and damage with your arrows and will be able to handle the thieving skills.

[Trickstuf]

So which mod is it that lets me be a archer kit for fighter?

And!

Short Bow proficiency or long bow???? And should I invest in longsword prof as well?

EDIT: And are the benefits of being an archer in the tactics mod worth giving up being able to wear metal armor and achieve grand mastery in other weapons as a fighter?

[Daynov]

It's part of the Tactics mod and if you use it you can specialize in melee weapons so it's up to you.
Short bow is better if you are min - maxing and if you are not going with an elven archer (well it's better anyway ). I really can't imagine elven archers specializing in anything else but long bows.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

[QUOTE=Trickstuf;1073976!]Why Jan? He always struck me as sort of useless and I've never really used him on any of my runs through the game.

What are your thoughts on my PC being a fighter/archer? I figure I'll use korgan as the tank, vicionica as secondary tank with healing and whatnot, and obviously edwin as the caster. That leaves my PC as the ranged guy... seemed like good logic to me.[/QUOTE]Silence you turnip-hatin' scum! Jan is Garl Glittergold's gift to BG2 gamers. He's a specialist mage multiclass and so brings extra firepower with a decent number of spell slots, he's the only NPC who can use Spike Traps or develop his thief skills fully and not die, he has the best inter-party dialog in the game, his flasher Master Bruiser Mates can stun multiple enemies at once (like a low-damage Sahuaguin bolt that affects multiple targets if they're close), even before UAI he can use Thief weapons for backstabbing/combat and the Staff of the Magi for scouting/detecting traps/running away, he has a custom-and-quite-useful helm for sweet thiefy bonuses and critical hit immunity, AND he's thoroughly corrupt. If you're doing an evil run a Jan and Anomen teamup is as much a must as making the florid dung orc fail his test and attacking your party.

Get Valen or Jan for the thief skills (or just start a multiplayer game and make your own). I seem to recall having a mod that allows you to ignore alignment restrictions, but don't recall which one it is. Alternately, you could just go an archer and Shadowkeeper your alignment (I did, if you have a familiar from your old alignment just replace it with the right one too) though I'm not sure if the reputation restriction still applies.
BG2 has better shortbows than longbows, though I only ever seem to play elf archers and then it's always longbows for me. Crossbows are another good choice, as are darts. For armor and weapons I wouldn't worry too much - as an archer you won't be doing much melee anyway, though Tactics is apparently pretty nasty.

[Hamster ranger]

If you want to go evil and don't mind adding a mod to the game both the Undying mod and Rylorn add some excellent evil tanks to the game as well as some added side adventures. Callisto T'sarran won't tolerate Vicionica though so you need a different divine spell caster. I used an assassin dueled to a cleric at level 12 with Callisto, Rylorn, Korgan and Edward and one guest spot . It was alot of evil fun, especially since I usually play a Paladin.

The Undying NPCs

Rylorn the NPC